Stuttgart’s youth voted President Barack Obama in for a second term and newcomer Scott Ellington to the U.S. House of Representatives District 1 seat during mock elections at three Stuttgart schools.

Park Avenue Elementary School and Meekins Middle School both hosted in-house elections, which had its students voting for U.S. President. Stuttgart High School participated in a national mock election, allowing them to vote for both U.S. President and House of Representatives District 1.

“I think it is really great,” sixth grader Bethany Crum said. “I think it is good that everybody gets to participate.”

Park Avenue

At Park Avenue, the voters were students in Kindergarten and PREP classes. Kindergarten teacher Lisa Henderson said the children are learning about the United States and its symbols.

Approximately 160 students in eight Kindergarten classes and one PREP class voted. Henderson said they talked about each candidate with pictures of the candidates placed at the voting location.

The students were allowed to cast a ballot for either President Obama or his opponent, Mitt Romney, with the majority of votes going towards President Obama.

Meekins

All five presidential candidates who appeared on the Arkansas ballot were on the Meekins’ ballot. Sixth-grade social studies teacher Kerry Chastain said she wanted students to realize that voting is one of the freedoms they receive and she hoped it would also get parents involved in the process.

The mock election was a two-month project. Teachers led up to Election Day by having students look at newspaper articles, political cartoons and campaign mail while discussing components such as third parties and mudslinging.

On Election Day, the school’s Gifted and Talented students acted as poll workers. Among the workers was sixth grader Angel Castillo, who said, “it’s a little busy. There’s a lot of ruckus — people moving in and out but I think I can take it.”

He knew what the election process was before, and thought the best part was “that people get to decide whether or not they like this person (for the office).”

Every student and teacher was allowed to vote with President Obama receiving 91 fifth-grade votes and 71 sixth-grade votes. Romney received 55 fifth-grade votes and 42 sixth-grade votes while other candidates received two fifth-grade votes and four sixth-grade votes.

Crum, who worked the Meekins’ poll location, said it was hard when more people came in to vote then they had spots available to vote at.

SHS

For Stuttgart High School, President Obama received 257 votes while Romney received 148. House of Representative candidates Rick Crawford received 170 votes to Scott Ellington’s 176 votes.

Page 2 of 2 - Teacher Amy Marek said the vote took place on Tuesday, Oct. 30, as part of the My Voice, My Election, a national student mock election. The SHS Student Council ran the election with all students voting electronically in the library.

The school has participated in the event before. Marek said “the kids have been really interested.”

“They thought only Romney and Obama were the candidates,” she said. “They didn’t know others were running so … they wanted to know who the other people were. It was an eye opener that its not just the Democrats and Republicans.”

It’s a lesson that’s been well received. At Meekins, Crum said she didn’t really pay attention to the general election or know how it worked before the school’s mock election. On Tuesday, she said she’d definitely be paying “a little bit more attention than I was” in the future.